Manager, Policy & Sector-Building

Position: Manager, Policy & Sector-Building

Location: Remote; or Los Angeles (Hybrid); and travel required

Employment Type: Full-time, Salaried, Exempt

Compensation Range: $75,000/year - $105,000/year DOE

Level: Manager I - Manager II

Reports To: Vice President, Policy & External Relations

Manages: Project dependent

Supported By: Coordinator, Policy & Sector-Building; Administrative Coordinator, Policy & Sector-Building; Operations team; Program teams

Education/Experience Preferences: Bachelor's Degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred

Start Date: ASAP, open until filled

We Are DigDeep  

The DigDeep Right to Water Project is a WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) organization serving the 2 million + people in the U.S. who still don’t have a tap or a toilet at home. 

DigDeep believes access to clean water is a human right. We run several nationally recognized programs that empower communities to build their own water and sanitation systems. We won the 2018 US Water Prize for our Navajo Water Project, which has brought clean, running water to hundreds of Native families across New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. DigDeep launched the Appalachia Water Project in 2020, in McDowell County, WV. It has since brought clean, sustainable running water to hundreds of families in Southern West Virginia through public - private partnerships with the McDowell County and East Logan PSD's in Wyoming County. In addition to clean running water, the project is installing septic systems and connecting households to centralized sewer. The AWP is now expanding into neighboring states of Kentucky and Virginia to continue its quest of clean water for every Appalachian family. Our water projects expanded in 2022 when we launched our Colonias Water Project. This project works to bring clean, running water to the residents living in communities along the Texas-Mexico border. The Texas colonias are largely unincorporated, low-income communities that fall just outside city limits and often lack basic infrastructure. Our work began in Cochran colonia near El Paso. DigDeep partnered with residents, housing nonprofits, and county officials to innovate a new model for public-private-partnership that brings these basic services to families for the first time. Now we're getting the water flowing in 5 more communities. 

The Opportunity

DigDeep is looking for a strategic, collaborative, organized, hands-on, and detail-oriented person to join our growing Policy & Sector-Building team as our new Manager, Policy & Sector-Building. Reporting to the Vice President of Policy & External Relations, the Manager, Policy & Sector-Building will support DigDeep’s work on policy initiatives; manage sector and coalitions development and relationships; manage day-to-day timelines of team’s policy and sector-building deliverables; and collaborate with VP, Policy & External Relations on overall project strategy and implementation. The work is both strategic and visionary, and requires flexibility, detail-orientation, forward-thinking, creativity, humility, patience, a discerning-eye, and efficiency. 

Key Responsibilities

This is what you’ll do once you join the team: 

General

• Support DigDeep’s work on external affairs, sector-building projects, external and internal coalition work, and programmatic and policy partnership development. 
• Lead org-wide and external meetings and training as needed. 
• Draft agendas and track to-dos for key meetings.
• Represent the department and DigDeep at external webinars, conferences, government information sessions, and other events on water access, wastewater issues, and other policy priorities. 
• Work closely with internal DigDeep teams, including executive, research, programs, communications, and operations, on various projects and support roles.
• Manage other team members and/or external contractors on an as-needed, project-dependent basis.
• Provide assistance to the Vice President of Policy & External Relations’ work to initiate partnerships with communities, partner organizations, government officials, and individuals to help meet strategic goals; relay communications to and from the VP as needed; contribute to an environment that promotes trust and cooperation among staff, community members, and partner organizations.
• Assist with ad-hoc projects and support other tasks/duties as assigned.

Policy & Advocacy

• Manage state policy work under the direction of the VP of Policy & External Relations, and support policy projects, such as drafting briefs, legislation, fact sheets, and research.
• Manage daily logistics and workflows of the policy projects and initiatives, as well as ad hoc policy and sector-building projects.
• Supports the VP of Policy & External Relations in training team members and organization staff to understand and advocate for (if/when needed) DigDeep’s policy positions effectively.
• Provide support in ensuring the team’s Policy Bank is up-to-date, and stays informed about emerging policy issues, best practices, and innovations in the field of nonprofit advocacy and public policy..
• Supports the VP of Policy & External Relations in evaluating the effectiveness of advocacy efforts and works collaboratively to ideate strategies, adjusting priorities as needed to help achieve desired outcomes.

External Relations & Sector-Building

• Monitors, tracks, researches, and reports on ongoing affairs in the domestic and international WASH spaces, including key reports by partner organizations, appointments in governmental and non-governmental contexts, and new opportunities for collaboration with WASH organizations in the US. 
• Manage daily logistics and workflows of the Vessel Collective WASH coalition, as well its various working groups.
• Aid in the management and development of key coalitions, working groups, and learning cohorts hosted by DigDeep. 
• Research and explore potential partnerships across the WASH Sector and with external organizations.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. As the organization continues to evolve, duties or tasks may change without impacting the overall job description. 

Competencies 

• Change Management: Task/strategy orientation. Seeks out opportunities for task /team/ functional area growth and innovation. Anticipates obstacles from both team members and active projects, beginning to forecast and prepare contingencies. Collaboratively establish structures and processes to plan and manage the orderly implementation of change. Collaborate on the project goal and provide guidance on how to get there, especially under novel circumstances. Effectively navigates uncertainties and incomplete information with a problem-solving mindset to identify appropriate strategies, creatively apply solutions, and uses a community-driven, sustainable approach. Champions new policies/ procedures/ strategies. Are a focal point for driving adoption within functional area.
• Professional Communication: Professional presence, strong written and verbal communications skills, has the ability to appropriately represent both oneself and the company in external facing situations, able to adapt and react appropriately to novel circumstances. Tailors communications and presentations to effectively reach the desired audience and with maximum impact, both internal and external to the organization. Debates opinions, effectively clarifies ambiguities and judgments. Handles conflict empathetically. Converses with, writes reports for, and creates/delivers presentations to all levels of colleagues and peer groups in ways that support understanding, problem solving and planning. Explains the context of multiple interrelated problems/challenges, asks searching, probing questions, and solicits expert advice prior to taking action and making recommendations.
• Influence: Oversees relationships and alliances within functional area with support from supervisor (internal and external). Uses extensive industry and team knowledge to help guide teams outside of functional area. Able to synthesize and triage various project needs in order to best achieve goals within functional area. Challenge directives when appropriate and, with evidence, propose alternative solutions. 
• Judgement & Decision-Making: Able to identify the information needed to clarify situations, when necessary, seeks information from appropriate resources, and uses skilled reasoning and questioning to draw out information in order to make sound decisions. Should be able to implement all solutions independently. Effectively navigates uncertainties and incomplete information with a problem-solving mindset to identify and propose appropriate strategies and creatively apply solutions using a community-driven, equitable approach. Can make systematic comparisons between two or more alternatives, noticing discrepancies and using them to inform decision-making. 
• Ownership: Beginning to fully own projects along with limited guidance from supervisor. Demonstrates commitment to delivering on all promises as a credible, trusted organizational representative. Establishes agreements with others as to how success will be measured. Accepts the consequences of own performance. Able to work independently with limited guidance and exercise independent judgment, knowing when to elevate concerns or issues. 
• Personal Development: Shifting toward professional development from personal development. Continual development of self. Become a better leader through feedback and consistent collaboration. Developing for team. Identifies own learning needs and areas for development based on self-initiated need analysis as well as in response to others’ feedback and suggestions for improvement. Maintains fluency in appropriate work applications, software, or tools. Beginning to identify and share information regarding key technologies and best practices to team.
• Technical Expertise: Has demonstrated ability and depth of knowledge with the technology in the desired technical area. Effectively uses and applies technical knowledge, and uses knowledge to identify solutions to existing problems. Basic understanding of data security best practices.

Skills and Qualifications

We want to hear from you if you have:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent professional experience preferred
• At least 4 years of applicable professional experience required; experience in policy, government affairs, and external relations field required
• Experience in water access, WASH, drinking water, or wastewater policy preferred
• Experience with managing projects and personnel required
• Proficiency in MS Office Suite, Google Workspace required
• Experience with Slack, Asana, Zoom, BGov preferred
• Experience and/or willingness to use data collection, policy platforms, or other tech platforms (e.g., such as Expensify, Squarespace, )
• High computer literacy, and tech savviness required
• Able to focus in the face of pressure, deliver against timelines and not be intimidated by tasks/time limitations
• Organized, trustworthy, dependable, and detail oriented
• Comfortable with autonomy, able to work independently and complete assigned tasks within established time frames required
• Experience/Willingness to work across various cultural contexts and communicating across cultural differences
• Willingness to travel, including but not limited to: Navajo Nation (AZ/NM/UT); West Virginia; Texas; DigDeep HQ; Washington, DC; and additional locations as needed
• Understanding of data security best practices preferred

Compensation and Benefits

At DigDeep, we believe that great work requires a great job. We understand that people thrive with rest and holistic support, which is crucial for our long-term success. We take pride in offering top-notch benefits to our team across the United States, prioritizing their health and wellbeing, as well as providing additional support for our employees' families. If you join us, here’s how we’ll support you in your work:

• Competitive wage to commensurate with level of position
• Generous vacation and sick leave
• 23 weeks paid Parental Leave
• Annual Professional Development Stipend
• Annual Wellbeing Reimbursement
• BrightPlan membership (Financial Wellness Benefit)
• Health Benefits
• Employee Offering: Medical, dental, vision insurance, 100% employer paid
• Spouse/Children/Family Offering: Employer covers up to $500 of the monthly cost for medical insurance for spouse/children/family; Employer covers 100% of the cost for dental and vision insurance for spouse/children/family
• One Medical membership 
• Life insurance, 100% employer paid
• Work laptop
• Monthly cell phone use allowance
• Monthly internet use allowance
• 15 paid holidays (including one week closure for Labor Day)
• Domestic travel 
• 401k retirement plan, with employer match 

Interested? 

When applying, please submit a thoughtful cover letter and resume. References should be available upon request. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. No office visits. No calls please. Thank you.

DigDeep has adopted a COVID-19 vaccination policy to safeguard the health of our employees and community at large. Where permissible by law, candidates applying to work at DigDeep should be ready to demonstrate proof of receiving up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of their employment.

In an effort to promote pay equity and transparency, DigDeep does not negotiate compensation outside of posted compensation ranges. DigDeep’s compensation is based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to: internal budget analysis, external market value, internal pay alignment, and annual merit increases. A candidate’s compensation history will not be used in determining compensation at DigDeep.

Please note that DigDeep cannot provide immigration sponsorship for this position.

DigDeep is deeply committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We believe social change happens when people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and identities come together with a common purpose. DigDeep is built on the principles of equity, transparency and the power of human experience. Your work will improve the daily lives of real people. We believe everybody should have the clean, running water they need to thrive. Join us, and we’ll close the US water gap in our lifetimes.

DigDeep is a certified Great Place to Work®